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Widget field for admin notes?

Hi, as our various librarians start to make widgets and apis for various purposes, embedding code in courseware etc., I'm seeing a need to keep track of where and how code is being used so that things aren't deleted by accident or changed with unintended consequences.

Right now I can't see a simple way to do this, but let me know if I'm missing something.

I'm envisioning at least a field for admin use that would attach to each widget that could be used for this or other purposes. Even better if there could be a "linked to" function, although I guess this would have limited functionality for code embedded in other apps.

Tags: api, courseware, linked_boxes, widgets

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Permalink Reply by Anna Burke on February 3, 2010 at 3:01pm: Hi Dana - Thanks for the suggestion! :)

I can see how having a notes field would be very helpful for keeping track of things. I can see it happening on the widgets page since that lists all of the widgets created in your system, but since you don't save the code for the API automatically anywhere in the system, I'm not sure how that piece would work.

I have a couple of thoughts right now about how to keep track of these items, though neither are an automated process:
1. Create a guide (leave unpublished or make private) that houses the information - including the actual API code used (so you can potentially reuse it ;) and where it was used. Also include where you have any widgets you created - maybe a box for each one where the box title is the title you gave the widget and a list of where that widget was used (maybe with links to those pages where possible?). Give editing access to all librarians so they can add their code/places they've used it.

2. Create a spreadsheet with this information.

As I said, not an automated solution, but one you could implement right now. The nice part about using a guide for this purpose is that you can easily reuse the content elsewhere in the system - maybe copy a box over to another guide (then delete any extraneous notes) - as well as in outside sites.

If anyone else would like this feature or has any ideas relating to this, please post!
And Dana, if you have any other ideas/thoughts around this, please reply & let me know!

Thanks,
Anna :); ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Dana McFarland on February 4, 2010 at 12:21pm: Thanks Anna - I had been going in the direction of keeping a record on a private page, and this can work for now, but it is not an ideal solution for a variety of reasons, so I'll be interested to see if anything develops out of this discussion.

On a tangent, I'm assuming with great hopefulness that API code will still work if the target box is relocated to another page or guide - should that be the case or will the code need to be regenerated? I can go off and test this myself, but it might be useful to others as well to record an answer.

Thanks again,

Dana

Anna Burke said:
Hi Dana - Thanks for the suggestion! :)

I can see how having a notes field would be very helpful for keeping track of things. I can see it happening on the widgets page since that lists all of the widgets created in your system, but since you don't save the code for the API automatically anywhere in the system, I'm not sure how that piece would work.

I have a couple of thoughts right now about how to keep track of these items, though neither are an automated process:
1. Create a guide (leave unpublished or make private) that houses the information - including the actual API code used (so you can potentially reuse it ;) and where it was used. Also include where you have any widgets you created - maybe a box for each one where the box title is the title you gave the widget and a list of where that widget was used (maybe with links to those pages where possible?). Give editing access to all librarians so they can add their code/places they've used it.

2. Create a spreadsheet with this information.

As I said, not an automated solution, but one you could implement right now. The nice part about using a guide for this purpose is that you can easily reuse the content elsewhere in the system - maybe copy a box over to another guide (then delete any extraneous notes) - as well as in outside sites.

If anyone else would like this feature or has any ideas relating to this, please post!
And Dana, if you have any other ideas/thoughts around this, please reply & let me know!

Thanks,
Anna :); ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Anna Burke on February 5, 2010 at 12:59pm: Hi Dana -

The API code will continue to work if you move/copy the boxes around or use that same code in an outside site. It's not session or location based. :)

Anna :)

Dana McFarland said:
Thanks Anna - I had been going in the direction of keeping a record on a private page, and this can work for now, but it is not an ideal solution for a variety of reasons, so I'll be interested to see if anything develops out of this discussion.

On a tangent, I'm assuming with great hopefulness that API code will still work if the target box is relocated to another page or guide - should that be the case or will the code need to be regenerated? I can go off and test this myself, but it might be useful to others as well to record an answer.

Thanks again,

Dana; ▶ Reply to This